
W, -tfix. %crtM^ j^ ^ Cto!- 




aass„_E_iAl^ 



Book 



.1^1 



A DISCOURSE 

DELIVERED BEFORE THE SOCIETY 

FOR THE 

COMMEMORATION OF THE LANDING 

OF 

ON THE SlTH OF OCTOBER, 1835, 



BY C. J. INGERSOliL, Es<i. 



Tu spiegherai, Columbo, a un nuovo polo 
Lontane ti le fortunate antenne, 
Ch'appena segfan-^ con gli occhi i) volo 
La Fama,' h'ha mille ochi e inille penne, 
Canti ella Alcide e Bacco, e di te Solo 
Basti a' poster! tuoi oh'alquaoto acoenne .; 
Ch^ quel poco dar^ lunga memoria 
Di poema degnissima e d'Istona. 

Tasso, Gents. Lib. Canto XV. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE SOCIETV, 



PHILADELPHIA. 

PUBLISHED BY R. H. jtMALl- 

1825. 



4-4, 

Sri 



B um Ainjrtn'ms 






AT a Meeting of" The Society for the Com- 
memoration of the Landing of WILLIAM PEJ^K^ " 
held on the 2^th of October 1825, 

Resolved that the thanks of the Society be given 
to Mr. IJVGERSOLL, for his eloquent and instruc- 
tive discourse pronounced this day ; and that he 
be requested to furnish a copy for publication. 

Extract from the Minutes. 

T. I. WHARTON, 

Recording Secretary. 



A DISCOURSE, &c. 



The memory of Penn might suggest recol- 
lections of the flourishing Commonwealth that 
bears his name ; indeed of the great Empire of 
which Pennsylvania is the heart. But the City of 
his foundation will afford materials enough for my 
humble exposition of his principles, according to 
the design of this Society to commemorate them : 
and I trust that the subject will not prove an un- 
profitable or improper one. Let us then devote this 
Aniiiveisary of Penn's advent, to a review of his 
providence, and celebration of his virtues, by a 
brief selection of the most remarkable indications 
of Philadelphia.* 



* In a letter of the 5th of January, 1681, he thus characteris- 
tically expresses himself: — "This day, after many waitings, 
watchings, solicitings, and disputes, in Council, my country was 
confirmed to me under the Great Seal of England ; with large 
powers and privileges, by the name of Pennsylvania — a name 

B 



It is 143 years this day since the landing, which 
was soon followed by the purchase on peace- 
able and generous terms, of the site of what then 
was called the great town : whether from the In- 
dians, or certain Swedish proprietors, is not quite 
certain. Since then, 1,300,000 civilised people have 
become inhabitants of Pennsylvania, of whom one 
hundred and forty thousand reside in Pliiladelphia: 
tiie number of the latter increasing at the rate of 
rather more than two thousand a year ; and thus 
affording one ot'lhe strongest among the received 
tests of general happiness. As many, or more 
dwellings, stores, factories, and public edifices, 
are building this year as in any year since the be- 
ginning. In every direction over an area of se- 
veral miles, substantial homesteads have been 
put up, mostly oT tlie size and construction that 



the King would give it in liouour of my father. I chose New 
Wales, being a hilly country : and when the Secretary, a Welch- 
man, refused to call it New Wales, I proposed Sylvania, and 
they added Penn to it: though 1 much opposed it, and went 
to the King to have it struck out. He said t'was past, and he 
would take it upon hin^: nor could twenty guineas move the 
under Secretary to vary the name: for I feared it should be 
looked on as a vanity in me, and not as a respect in the King 
to my father, as it really was. Thou may'st communicate my 
grant to Friends, and expect shortly my proposals. 'Tis a dear 
and just thing, and my God that has given it me through many 
tlitlicultics, will, 1 believe, bless and make it the sef^d of a na- 
tion. 1 shall have a tendei care to the government that it be 
well' laid at first.", 



belona: to neither poverty nor riches, but that com- 
petent class which is the substance of every state. 
All of thetn have been reared from the lumber 
of our own woods, the marbles and bricks of our 
own immediate neighbourhood, the cement, and, 
principally, the iron, of our own soil and work- 
manship. The ship-yards on the Delaware arc 
building upwards of ten thousand five hundred 
tons of shipping ; being actively employed in the 
construction of vessels, to go by steam and by sail, 
of every denomination, from the larp;est sdip of 
war in the world, through every kind of com- 
mercial to the SMiallest river craft. The wharves 
on the Schuylkill — of whose importance Penn's 
view^s are about to be realised at this late period 
— are for the first time resorted to by burthensome 
vessels from over sea, for freights of that ines- 
timable fuel contributed by the mother earth of 
Pennsylvania, in a mineral more valuable than 
the precious metals. Poured in for consum|)tion 
and exportation, as it is, from the shores of the 
Lehigh and the Susquehanna, as well as the 
Schuylkill, when we advert to what the coal trade 
alone has done for the port of London, it is not 
fanciful to anticipate revolutions in commerce, 
manufactures, and capital, which it is destined 
to bring about here. The first large substan- 
tial brick store, if I am not mistaken, is now 
raising on the margin of tlie Schuylkill, within 



8 

the city of Philadelphia : and I hardly consider 
it visionary to regard this store as marking; an 
sera in the providence of V*enn, and the pros- 
perity of Pennsylvania. Public conception is 
not yet awakened to this vital resource, just 
emerging from the bosom of the State : and we 
do not foresee its effects on manufactures and 
commerce, while considering it merely as a sub- 
stitute for wood for our consumption as fuel. 
Even in that limited view it is sufficiently impor- 
tant, when we reckon three hundred thousand 
cords of wood, at five dollars a cord, hauled, cut 
and put away, or one mihion five hundred thou- 
sand dollars, as tlie annual consun)ption of Phila- 
delphia Estimating ten bushels of antiiracite 
coal to l)e equal to one cord of good oak wood, 
the annual consumption would be three millions 
of bushels, which, at 25 cents each, amount to 
S750,000 ; thus saving that sum to this city, by 
the substitution of coal for wood. This, however, 
is a ver)*limited view. When we advert to the 
fact, that almost every part of Pennsylvania 
ahounds with every variety of this fossil, and with 
all kinds of iron ores, wanting nothing but facili- 
ties for transportation to market, a vast increase 
of manufactures, of coasting atid foreign trade, and 
of homebred seamen for our commercial and mi- 
litary marine, must be perceived as the natural 
offspring. The modern experience of England 



proves this to be no sanguine expectation. In it^ 
effects on the manufactures, commerce, wealth, 
and power of Great Britain, and parliculaily the 
port of London, tlie coal trade has transcended 
all calculation. In 1824, the city of London im- 
poJted 40,301,304 bushels, or 1,531, 541 tons oi 
coal, conveyed in 5160 voyages of vessels ol 
from 200 to 300 tons each. At times within the 
last ten years, the coal trade of London has been 
accounted the most, if not the only, lucrative 
branch of the commerce of that gieat port. As 
a nursery of seamen, it may render Philadelphia 
equal to Nantucket. Pittsburgh and Pliiladelphia 
are the keys to a region enjoying in coal and iron, 
advantages over any other in the world, which 
cannot fail to develop the most extensive manu- 
factures and commerce : and from which it is by 
no means extravagant to imagine Pennsylvania 
ultimately, as it were, one vast town, inhabited by 
ten millions of industrious people. 

The banks of the Delaware, the Schuylkill, the 
Brandywine, with all their tributary streams of 
this neighbourhood, are planting with manufiic- 
tories of cotton and woollen, fur, lumber, iron, 
grain, and the various other staples of the coun- 
try. The environs of Philadelphia are literally 
enlivened by the music of shuttles — the music 
of domestic employment, public wealth, individual 
and national independence. The shops and stores 



10 

are filled with home manufactures ; some of 
them sparklins; with the most beautiful master- 
works of silver, cutlery, and glass ; others con- 
stantly replenishing with the materials of comfort 
in constant request ; all of them gradually, but 
permanently supplanting those for which tribute 
money is paid to foreigners. In maimlactures, as 
in many things, q<jantity is part of the wages of 
quality, and the increase of those of this country, 
is not more obvious than their atiielioration. 
Twelve years aa;o gr^nit distress was experienced 
from absolute want of ai tides of the first neces- 
sity, their usual supj)ly bom abroad being cut off 
by war wit > the great mart of them. Since that 
second edition of American Independence, the 
cause of tbeir increase is perceptible l)y every one, 
in the improvements that have taken place in the 
houses, shipping, pleasure carriages, cloathing of 
every kind, furniture, cabinet, silver, and plated 
ware, writing and hanging-papers, glass, cutlery, 
and many other things, of which, it is very proba- 
ble, I omit the enumeration. Not only the tex- 
ture, sul)stance, and durabihty, but the style, taste, 
finish, and elegance of all these fabrics, are strik- 
ing to any observation. In elegance and fashion 
they commonly approach, often surpass, the Eu- 
ropean standards. A person may now be as 
cheaply and well dressed, in domestic, as in fo- 
reign manufactures, including flannel, muslin, cot- 



11 

ion, woollen, cloth, casimere, leather, fur, metal, 
and every other article of cloathing. Carriages 
of all kinds for pleasure and burthen are made 
in Philadelphia in great numhers, for use here, 
and for exportation, equal in appearance and con- 
venience to any made in Europe ; without a sin- 
gle material that is not manufactured here. Some 
of our cotton goods are already preferred in fo- 
reign markets. Our fine writing paper is more 
approved than the English in Asia, notwithstand- 
ing their habitual ascendancy there. Our wool- 
lens are more substantial, having more wool and 
better wool in them. In the noblest of all manu- 
factures, the finest ships that float, whether for 
war or peace, Europe cannot compare with the 
ship-wr'ghts of Philadelphia. 

The foreign commerce oi Philadelphia is stea- 
dily advancing on durable foundations. In ad- 
dition to bread stuffs, hitherto the most conside- 
rable domestic article of exportation, the shipping 
of the poi t is freighted with productions of na- 
tional industry. The commercial and manufac- 
turing guilds are apt to fear each others prosperity; 
— but Great Biitain has risen on their union to 
astonishing opulence ; and in Philadelphia they 
certainly thiive together. The imports of this 
port have increased only S30,768 in the last 
three years — t)eing Si 3,3 4^0,310 in 1833, and 
St 3.3(10,978 in 1835: whereas the exports have 



13 

increased iSi,74l,969 in the same period; be- 
ing 8.765,987 in 1823, and iS 10,507,956 in 
1825. In 1833 the value exported in foreign 
vessels was S548,987 ; this year it is but Z7C\757 
giving a difference of 8473,330 transferred to our 
own vessels. The outstanding registered tonnasie 
of Philadelphia, in 1833 was 54,613 : in 1835 it 
is 59,573, an increase of 4960 tons. The en- 
rolled and licensed coasting tonnage in 1833 was 
31,813 — in 1835 it is 35,473, an increase of 3660. 
The licensed vessels under twenty tons, in 1833 
amounted to a tonnage of 3103 ;in 1835 it is 3496. 
The impost in 1833 was S3,6 4-6,435 — in 1834 
84,303,797. This year it amounts to 85,334.993; 
an increase of nearly two millions in three years. 
Only an inconsiderable portion of this prosjressive 
improvement is ascribable to the new tariff. The 
prime commodities, wines, teas, spirits, sugar, 
coffee, and many other articles are unaffected by 
it. And as a steady advancement in all the ob- 
jects of commercial industry is indicated by these 
details, it may he assumed as substantial. The 
establishment of several lines of packets, has no 
doubt contributed essentially to improve the com- 
merce and navigation of Philadelphia, which in 
their turn stimulate industry and enterprise in 
every branch of business. 

The navy.yard is of great importance to Phila- 
delphia by its constant demand for a large quan- 



13 

tity and variety of materials and manufactures ; 
and by not only employing but improving nume- 
rous mechanics in all the arts connected with the 
construction and equipment of vessels of war. Its 
location is peculiarly favourable as a naval depot 
and building-yard, secure from hostile incursions, 
from the more to be dreaded ravages of sea-worms, 
and from animal and vegetable substances, which in 
salt water, are extremely detrimental to ships. The 
finest and cheapest ships in the service have been 
built at this yard. The superintendant of it with 
a professional ardour, the pledge of excellence, 
performed a voyage to England at his own ex- 
pense, to examine the master-works of that king- 
dom ; where he was admitted to the dock-yards 
and naval arsenals, with magnanimous liberality, 
under the introduction of our townsman and mi- 
nister there, who thinks that few, if any, of the 
public ministers, from America to Europe have 
rendered more valuable services to their country 
than this enterprising ship-wright. 

A disciple of Penn might remark, that what 
have been called the golden days of the com- 
mercial prosperity of this country, cost it several 
wars ; at least two hundred millions of dollars ; 
of which a large amount still remains due, in fund- 
ed debt, and many millions in the more odious 
medium of demands for spoliations on foreign 
powers. Perhaps we have had equivalents for 
C 



all this bloodshed and treasure. But a rational 
regret may be indulged that some small part of 
the expenditure has not been b( stowed on less 
ostentatious but more substantial obiects. With- 
in a short period tlie navigation of the Delaware 
has been facilitated by the erection of a light-house 
on Cape May ; a beacon-light, on the pitch of 
Cape Henlopen ; two floating lights in the bay of 
Delaware, and a permanent light on fort Delaware. 
Several huridred thousand dollars have been dis- 
bursed in the construction of that fortress. But 
the chamber of commerce of this city have ear- 
nestly urged an improvement which is yet in the 
mere beginning of its consideration. In July 
1823, skilful officers appointed by the government 
of the union, repoited plans for a break- water at 
the mouth of the Delaware where there are great 
natural advantasies for such a work. The com- 
plete success of similar improvements at Ply- 
mouth in Ensiland, and Cherbourg in France leave 
no doubt of the success of it here. The plan re- 
ported may be completed at a cost of 83,3-^6,000, 
so as to afford a harbour and perfect shelter, for 
the vast coasting trade of the Atlantic board; to 
save property and lives to an incalculable amount, 
and to protect that commerce, which is the most 
important source of the strength and wealth of 
this country. One half of the tithe of the war- 
like expenditure, would afford this magnificent 



id 

safe-guard. Without lamenting the charges of fo- 
reign commerce and war, but on the contrary, 
glorying in the national wealth, grandeur, cha- 
racter and security they have estal)lished, we may 
be allowed to hope that hereafter, more care will 
be taken of the citadel without abandoning any of 
the outworks. 

The primary arts and sciences of necessity 
and usefulness, husbandry, building, commerce and 
manufactures have advanced to a state of perfec- 
tion to be compared with the oldest and most re- 
lined nations. But an opinion or apprehension 
prevails that our political meridian is not adapted 
to the luxuries of architecture, sculpture, painting 
and music. Doubts have indeed been expressed 
as to polite literature also. The modern repub- 
lics of Italy, in which all the fine arts began and 
flourished to the highest degree, are historical re- 
futations of this disparagement. The anc ent re- 
pul)lics teem with redeeming arguments for our 
consolation ; and the short career of this country, 
of this city, is the best practical proof that libe?ty 
and equality are the most poweriul protectors of 
every art :uid science. 

The acadeniy of Fine Arts has ripened under 
the culture of its zealous and indefatigable Presi- 
dent to become an eminent school and collection 
of paintings, statuary, engravings and models of 
which all liberal and qualilied foreigners speak 



16 

with applause. It has amassed a property of about 
S;30,000 ; and has an income from visitors of 
about Si 000 a year. S3.'500 were paid for a sin- 
gle picture in it from the pallet of an American 
painter. JVt the last annual exhibition, pictures 
were shewn by near fifty American painters in 
history, portrait, landscape, and miniature; some 
pf them of an eminence acknowleds:ed in Lon- 
don as well as Philadelphia. Engravins;, sculp- 
ture, and architecture, were likewise represented 
there by the prints, busts, and models of our own 
artists. Some of the most masterly works, both 
on canvass and in marble displayed there, it is 
due to him to mention, belong to a personage, 
who, after wearing the crowns of two of the most 
ancient kingdoms of Europe, resides in and near 
Philadelphia, enjoying in exile the respect of the 
inhabitants; /reefi? (in the language of one of Penn's 
early letters) from the anxious and troublesome so- 
licitations^ hurries and perplexities of woeful Eu- 
rope. To another prince of the same illustrious 
family we owe a recent pubhcation in this city 
of the most splendid specimens of the arts of de- 
sign, engraving, paper-making, printing and book- 
binding. 

> Among the nmny distinguished painters with 
whom England has been supplied by this country, 
the founder of the English school of historical 
painting went from Philadelphia. The well known 



17 

picture presented by him to the Pennsylvania 
Hospital affords some curious particulars. It is 
exhibited in a house built and appropriated for 
that sole purpose, at a cost of nearly Sl4,000 ; 
which is probably more than ever was bestowed 
elsewhere on the apartment of a single picture : 
and the avails of its exhibition during seven years 
amount to nearly 817,000, received from up- 
wards of sixty-two thousand persons who have 
paid to see it. 

There are also some respectable private col- 
lections of paintings : besides that of the person- 
age before alluded to, which is on a scale of re- 
gal and Italian excellence. 

The churches, hospitals, banks, theatres, and 
other public buildings of Philadelphia bespeak no 
lack of either enterprise or taste in architecture. 
The dwelling houses are remarkable for sym- 
metry and convenience. That ancient and pecu- 
liar people, the Jews, exempted from the humi- 
liation which characterises their existence in 
Europe, have lately erected a synagogue of a very 
neat and apposite design. Many, probably most, 
of the ornamental places of worship recently built 
in this city, were endowed from the singular 
resource — unknown wherever liberty is not the 
parent of eloquence — of the oratorical attractions 
of their zealous pastors ; whose discourses have 
literally raised the means for constructing manv 



18 

beautiful edifices dedicated to the service of the 
Ahnighty. If in his order the spirits of the just 
made perfect in a better world are permitted to 
enjoy a knowledge of this, conceive the ineffable 
gratification of the immortal founder of that re- 
ligious tolerance which, since he proclaimed it in 
Philadelphia has extended throughout so much of 
Christendom, when he perceives its divine bene- 
iits in this land of his promise. Sects as number- 
less as their rites are various living together in 
perfect social harmony : from the gorgeous and 
mysterious adoration of the oldest, in the midst 
of incense, imagery, symphonies and sacraments, 
through every refinement of reformation, to the 
plain meeting of the people of his own persua- 
sion, in sublimated silence and spirituality, without 
psalmody, sacrament or ceremony. All, how- 
ever, differing in forms, an immortalised being 
might say, teaching the morality of the same 
scriptures, and the necessity of that morahty for 
a sanction here and future salvation. They do 
not torture, burn and butcher each other : but live 
together in charity and peace : and spontaneous 
Christianity, diversified by endless creeds, flou- 
rishes among them far beyond the power of for- 
cible propairation. 

Descended as we are mostly from the least mu- 
sical people of the world, ancient or modern, and 
settled as our country was at first by those who 



19 

proscribed music from reliji;ious exercises, and as 
this city particularly is by many who i eject it 
from domestic pastime, such as cherish it as a 
delightful recreation, may he satisfied when they 
call to mind that its cultivation is a coirmion part 
of the education of one sex among us, and that 
an extensive Hidl has lately been appropriated in 
Philadelphia to musical performances. 

1 shall not attempt to enumerate the many phi- 
losophical, literary, and scientific institutions that 
abound, to prove that polite literature, as well as 
useful science, are constantly and successftilly dis- 
seminated. It is not probable that large private 
libraries and collections will exist, where fortunes 
are moderate, and continually changing owners. 
But numerous public libraries always accuniulat- 
ing;, leave nothing to desire or to frar in this re- 
spect. It is a colonial apprehension, wliich pre- 
vails most anions; those who ought to be most free 
from it, that the higher refinements are not our 
lot, and that we have exclianged those luxuries of 
the few for the political enjoyments of the many. 
The evaporation of this error has been in rapid 
process during the last ten years, in which period 
more of it has disappeared than in the thirty years 
before. When it is recollected that but half a 
century has been allowed yet to disprove the pre- 
judice, and establish the contrary, there can be 
little doubt that half a centurv more will do both 



so 

effectually. Being asked in Europe what was 
the average longevity of Philadelphia, Dr. Frank- 
lin answered that he could not tell till an old wo- 
man died, who was the first native of the place. 

It is certainly, however, in the useful arts that 
the greatest progress has taken place : and it 
is most encouraging to see how associations of 
individuals supply the place of opulent patrons. 
A late evidence of this is the Franklin Institute, by 
which the mechanic arts are to be scientifically 
taught in gratuitous lectures, and represented in 
annual fairs. Popular munificence is erecting a 
noble temple for the purposes of these excellent 
plans of popular instruction. 

The charitable institufions, hospitals, asylums 
for the aged and orphan, alms-houses, provident 
societies, and infirmaries, are the just pride of 
Philadelphia, whether their stately edifices, ex- 
cellent discipline, or admirable benefactions are 
considered. Among these, one of the most re- 
cent and interesfing is that for the education of 
the deaf and dumb, to which the Legislature of 
Pennsylvania hberally subscribed in a glow of 
sympathy for the poor and desolate, worthy and 
indicative of popular government ; and for which 
also an extensive building has just been erected. 

Agriculture and horUculture shew their suc- 
cesses in one of the best markets in the world ; 
while every department of rural economy is zea- 



lously promoted by agricultural societies in this 
vicinity, which unite scientific to practical know- 
ledge in husbandry. The heathen mythology 
deified the earth as the mother of plenty : and 
the prolific sunbeam has had nations of worship- 
pers in Afnerica. With more rational attachment, 
the inhabiiants of Pennsylvania may bless their 
stars without the idolatry of the children of the 
sun, and venerate their soil without the Pagan 
apotheosis 

Some public spirited persons have formed a 
society of internal improvement for the general 
development of the statistical resources of Penn- 
sylvania. With a zeal worthy the imitation and 
the power of the governments of both the State 
and the Union, they have sent a mission to Eu- 
rope, to ascertain and bring hither the prodigious 
improvements which have raised fifteen millions 
of people in England, to the power and pre- 
eminence of a nation of a hundred ^lillions — 
a more important embassy than any other we 
support in Europe. 

Our olnious policy is to learn from the expe- 
rience of Europe : and where innovation is doubt- 
ful, to let the expense and risque of experiment be 
borne there before we make attempts. The French 
Revolution and Brifish Freedom have introduced 
vast improvements. But, without vain boasting, 
I think it is demonstrable, that the home of dis- 
D 



2S 

covery an^l enterprise will be fixed on the Ame- 
rican side of tlie Atlantic ; where genius will have 
greater inducements and larger scope, than is 
possible, without perfect liberty in new coun- 
tries. About six years ago, a highly ingenious 
and successful inventor went from Philadelphia 
to London, naturally attracted by the strong 
allurements of that immense emporium : whose 
success has not been equal to our expecta- 
tions, nor to his deserts : and it may be doubted 
whetlier, in the mighty contests waging by mind 
as;uinst matter, he would not have won more im- 
portant and protitaI)le victories in America than 
in Europe. A few years since, an obscure native 
of this neighbourhood, brought up to a trade in 
Philadelphia, conceived, what he deemed, some 
great practical imjirovem<^nts. He went to Eng- 
land, and sought the patronage of the ministry, 
and others, who were men of superior talents, 
for the trial of h's schemes. Discountenanced 
by them, he proceeded to France, and endea- 
voured to impress the Emperor, proverbial for 
sagacity, and environed by men of great at- 
tainments, with, not only the feasibility of his 
projects, but their vital utility to the French go- 
vernment. Rejected and disappointed there too, 
our adventurer at last returned, after many years 
of fruitless courtship in Europe ; still not de- 
spairing ; and; with assistance from a distin- 



S3 

guished individual, tried the most foiiorn and 
derided of Ins plans at home. What had been 
found wanting by monarchs, and statesmen, and 
philosopheisj in Kuiope, succeeded in the infalli- 
ble ordeal of popular conviction in America. I'iie 
projector was Fulton. The project was the steam 
boat; which, in seventeen years, has already an- 
nihilated the magnificent spaces of this continent, 
done more perhaps than an excellent political 
organisation for the union of the States, and is 
fast. bringing Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, 
the four corners of the earth together. May it 
please that unknown God, to whom, six hundred 
years before Mahomet appeared, St. Paul found 
an altar in Athens, as he propagated Christianity by 
means of fishern»en and tent-makers, overcoming 
the disdainful barbarism of kings and arch-priests, 
to grant, that the experiment about to be made 
with the steam-boat, for liberating the most op- 
pressed of Christians, and humbling the most 
ruthless of Infidels, shall triumph in Greece as it 
succeeded in America ! 

Acknowledging the merits of that benefactor, 
whom we claim, indeed and clierish, as our own, it 
is, nevertheless, the sacred duty of this city to 
rescue from unjust oblivion and record in imj)e- 
rishable history, the pretensions of an humble but 
deserving inventor, John Fitch, who, here, upon 
the Delaware, full eighteen years before it was 



launched or tried upon the Hudson, navigated the 
steam-boat at the rate of five miles an hour, from 
Philadelphia to Bordentown, in every appliance, 
excepting; some inconsiderable difference about 
the wheels, the same inimitable contrivance that 
has canonised the name of Fulton, and will mark 
this age when Napoleon and Alexander are for- 
gotten. Fitch's boat was constructed at Shacka- 
maxon, or Kensington, where the famous treaty 
of Penn and Tamany took place. Morris, Wil- 
son, and others of our eminent citizens aided the 
design : and though for the time it languished, 
there is renown enough from such an application, 
as it has proved, of genius to motion, to share 
among all to whom any part belongs. When 
Rumsey made his essay on the Potomac, and 
Fitch on the Delaware, public resource was hardly 
ripe for the result. The public travelling was so 
inconsiderable, that not more than a very few per- 
sons at a time could be conveyed between the 
cities of New York and Philadelphia : and the 
journey was long, fatiguing, expensive, uncomfort- 
able, and dangerous. During the current season, 
three hundred passengers have been the daily 
average between these cities, going in twelve 
hours, with every luxury of accommodation, and 
at such insigniiicant expense, that, by a discovery 
in the econos^y of travelling, it is proved that 
the cheapest is the most productive : for no bounty 



25 

or patrona2;e cultivates with th-e judgment or ef- 
fect of popular inclination. 

The expensive (unnecessarily expensive) im- 
provements in the navigation of the Schuylkill, 
tnay be said to be accomplished. A merchant of 
Philadelpliia, who has acquired the largest com- 
mercial fortune in the world, and does not waste 
it as the rich merchant of Antwerp is said to have 
done in kindUng fires of spices to incense vice- 
roys — advanced several hundred thousand dol- 
lars, to sustain this effort in time of need. The 
Union Canal, to bring 800 miles of the shores of 
the Susquehanna and its dependencies into water 
communication with Philadelphia, is in partial 
operation. The Chesapeake and Delaware Ca- 
nal is in such forwardness as to promise its com- 
pletion in two years. The Raritan and Delaware 
Canal is begun in the assurance that it will also 
be finished in two years or sooner. The great 
junction of the Delaware with the Western lakes 
and rivers is under earnest preliminary enter- 
prise. And railways, which, with steam carriages 
upon them, are the last and utmost achievement 
of philosophical transportation, are about to be put 
in use between the Schuylkill and Delaware, 
through Philadelphia, perhaps likewise through- 
out Pennsylvania. 

The centrality, capital, enterprise, and advance, 
of Philadelphia, must render it one of the abiding 



^6 

places of the internal traffic of this continent. 
But in contemplatiua; its expansion, the mind is 
raised above the consideration of any one spot to 
the magnilicent spectacle which the whole pre- 
sents. Beginning with the projected improve- 
ments in Massr?chusetts, and tracnu; tlie course 
of partly artificial, mostly natural, interior naviga- 
tion, through Long Island Sound, the Jersey and 
Delaware Canals, the C lesapeake and Xorth Ca- 
rolina Canals to Flonda, arid by a canal throuj2;h 
that isthmus to Mexico, the whole Atlantic coast 
is connected withiii a distance of a few days com- 
munication : while the contiguration of the West 
from Lake Superior to Ponchartrain, brings all 
that region into similar intercourse. The recent 
sovereignties of the South guaranty such improve- 
ments throughout the whole American Hemi- 
sphere ; includino; a canal from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific: and present the New World to the 
admiration of the Old, in a state of union, com- 
merce, and strength, infinitely superior to the force 
ol ruffian war, or the comparatively insignificant 
security of armies and fortifications. To say 
that our political organisation does not allow the 
united prosecution and estal)hshment of these de- 
signs, is to argue, that we have a government, 
which caimot avail itself of the bounties of pro- 
vidence : and to pause at the expense, would be 
a singular infatuation for a community, which, 



37 

within the three last montlis, has lost, by what is 
called speculation, in a single raw material, as 
much as would accomplish tlie whole navigation 
in question. 

About sixty thousand inhabitants of Philadel- 
phia, considerably burthened by taxation, at an 
outlay exceeding two millions of dollars, of 
which a million and a half were disbursed in abor- 
tive projects, leaving but 8450,000 for what has 
succeeded, have provided the city with an inex- 
haustible supply of wholesome water ; diminish- 
ing the number, and assuagina; the character of its 
diseases, and vouchsafing it from extensive con- 
flagrations. Half a million is ad led by the rents 
of this aqueduct to the capital of the city ; be- 
sides a sinking fund of near three hundred 
tliousand dollars. Would tliat it might prove the 
fountain of temperance ! To be descended from 
nations, whose love of freedom is instinctive, is a 
blessing to redeem many faidts ; but our north- 
ern extraction has enslaved us to the hal)it of 
drinking ardent liquors to excess, eating animal 
food immoderately, preferring it ill prepai'ed, us- 
ing water seldom and sparingly, and — superadd- 
ing an excitement of American origin — taking 
tobacco extravagantly. Health and lon<j: life are 
part of our lot : but we disown them by living as 
if requiring the stimulants of a frigid zone — com- 
plaining of the climate as our European ances- 



28 

tors left us the habit. Whilever the savage 
passion for inebriety prevails among a people 
wit!) our perilous facilities of indulging it, it must 
continue a principal cause of the ills ascribed to 
weather, the accidents imputed to steam, the fires 
of which supposed incendiaries are accused, many 
of the risques charged to navigation, and tfie 
prime minister of disorder, distemper, death, 
and depopulation. The leprosy of menial sla- 
very, contaminating our descent, though a more 
denounced, is not a more formidable evil, than 
this great stain and scourge of the country. In 
some classes the fashion of hard drinking has 
passed away with other colonial badges. But, in 
general, and, especially, among those to whom 
liquor and tobacco are most injurious, it is deplo- 
rable how much of their work and business, as 
well as entertainment and pleasure, from early 
infancy to extreme old age, is transacted under 
these destructive provocations. The abuses of 
Sunday, the irregularities of every holy day, the 
gambling, and debauchery, and misdemeanours, 
that take place, proceed in great measure from 
the neglected sources of intemperance Not only 
our institutions but moral sense are lamentably 
wanting in this respect. 

The philosophy of public recreation altogether 
is too much neglected among us. More at ease 
than any other people, and free to use leisure at 



pleasure, we have scarcely an acknowledged holy 
day, and few places of respectable public resort. 
The provident founder of Philadelphia must have 
considered this popular need when he designated 
the open squares that have latterly received some 
municipal attention : which might be rendered, as 
is the case in all other climates and countries, an 
alternative lor some, at least, of the private haunts 
of dissipatior). 'i he shores of the Schuylkill offer 
every thing wanting in this respect. The Society 
of Friends, if I am not mistaken, employ the prin- 
ciple of recreation with advantage in their Lunatic 
Asylum in this neighbourhood : and at a late set- 
tlement at Harmony, in the western part of Penn- 
sylvania, it is to be introduced, upon what maiiy 
deem, an extravagant scale of development. 

The Penitentiary is entitled to distinct mention; 
and the transition to it is l)Ut too natural from in- 
toxication. This main problem among the mild 
principles is about to be solved by fiiir and satis- 
factory demonstration- All mankind are deeply 
interested in the experiment : for if it fails in Phi- 
ladelphia wheie it was conceived and began, its 
universal disrepute must ensue. It is worth the 
trial at any cost to determine wjiether more ra- 
tional puni-Innent is impracticable than public 
execution of the desperate, wrought up by en- 
thusiasm to an effort of courage, and countenan- 
ced by sympathising multitudes. In theory at 
least and reason penitential seclusion from all in- 
E 



30 

tercourse but with the terrors of conscience and 
the distress of inuc'ion, apjjears to be much more 
severe and effectual: and we know that experience, 
as far as it has gone, contirms the theory. The 
jail now used is calculated only to frustrate and 
discredit the plan : being a place of mere con- 
finement without solitude or other punishment; 
in which the malefactors of the whole state, in- 
deed of many states, are crowded, in pernicious 
confusion, into a prison intended for the mere 
county of Philadelphia : and regulated moreover, 
by a palpable subversion of the laws of the com- 
monwealth and the sentences of the courts. 

Henceforth the gates of Pennsylvania will be 
penitentiaries. At the western and eastern en- 
trances are erecting vast mansions of penitence, 
which, from Pittsburg and Philadelphia, will frown 
in inexoral)le granite on all the precincts of the 
State. Upon their walls should be inscribed the 
line from Dante's description of Hell, 

Wretches who enter here leave hope behind. 

The law enforced as pronounced, by solitary con- 
finement, hard d'et and al)solute idleness, and the 
pardoning power reserved for great occasions, 
would probably deter from many crimes by the 
most philosophical, humane and intolerable of 
punishments. 

PunishnK^nt, however, is but an accessorial and 
subordinate influence, at best. The preservative, 



31 

providential principle is education. I am autho- 
rised by the gentleman who so cordially and cre- 
ditably presides over the State schools to say. and 
it is a gracious assertion, that no child, of either 
sex, or any complexion, need grow up uneducated 
in Philadelphia. The Sunday-schools which sub- 
stitute employment and instruction for sloth and 
mischief, are most beneficial auxiliaries to thefiee- 
schools, which, however successful in Phil adcdphia, 
are not so acceptable throughout Pennsylvania. 
Schools for the languages and all the other usual ru- 
diments of a good school education abound ; and 
nowhere, perhaps, in proportion to population, are 
more editions of *he Greek and Latin classics pub- 
lished than in Philadelphia. It is in agitation to 
establish hereabouts on the best foundation a 
school similar to tiie military academy at West- 
point. A school of law has been instituted by 
gentlemen eminently qualified to render it use- 
ful. The medical school maintains its ascenden- 
cy, as the most frequented in America, having this 
year for the first time the impulse of a rival school 
in the same city. But some malediction seems to 
rest on the colleges of Pennsylvania. In the south 
and west new colleges are rising with great i)ro- 
misc. Those of the east and north continue to 
flourish. Disclaiming all invidious censure or 
suggestion as to the cause it ought to be the anx- 
ious enquiry of every friend to improvement why 
this vital requisite should languish as it does 



S2 

throiij^hout this commonwealth. As early as 
1686, immediately after Penii's settlement, a 
school was founded in Philadelphia, and a print- 
ing press set up. In 1689 a seminary or college 
was estal)r:shed hy tlie Society of Friends, who 
at that early day bore their testimony, in the pre- 
anU)le to the Charter of this Institution, to the iin- 
portance of public schools and good education in 
reading, writings learniiig languages^ and useful 
arts and sciences to qualify youth to serve their 
couidry. 

America has now become the Free-School of 
the world. South America is at this juncture 
especially the pupil of this country, /rnong the 
many distinguished youth from that portion of this 
hemisphere who come to imbibe their principles 
by education among us, a nephew of the most illus- 
trious citizen, bearing his glorious name, after 
completing his school education near Philadel- 
phia, is about transferring his collegiate pursuits 
elsewhere. Why should not the university of 
Pennsylvania be the reservoir of honour, iufluence, 
and emolument which such scholars afford ? Why 
not give governors to Pennsylvania, Presidents to 
the United States, and eminent men to both Ame- 
ricas ? I could name professional men whose 
individual eminence draws wealth and regaid and 
importance to Philadelphia. Such an institution 
as the university should be a chief resource of 
this city and the intellectual ornament of the State. 



33 

In the sliajht details of this homespun homily 
the foresight and principles of Penn have been 
partially explained by their effects among the 
progeny of his settlement. Perhaps fondly, but I 
hope not fancifully, certainly not falsely articula- 
ted, some of the physical and moral outlines, 
omittinu; the civil and social lineaments, have 
been bi ought into view. A few of the shades 
have been freely though kindly, touched. If this 
were the occasiori, it might do good to depict 
such political, moral, and social infirmities as doubt- 
less there aie. For public adulation is as culpa- 
ble as personal : and the time has come, when, 
having purified our blood of the degrading pre- 
judices imbued by foreign opprolirium and colo- 
nial subserviency, we owe it to ourselves, and to 
all calumniators, as well as admirers, honestly to 
tell ourselves and them wliat our faults really are. 

In displaying the character of Philadelphia we 
instance that of Pennsylvania, and of the whole 
country that surrounds, protects and resembles 
us. Selfish and local jealousy would be unworthy 
of any view of the traces of the founder of this 
city and State. The vulgar and foolish narrow- 
mindedness is exploded which supposes that ei- 
ther man or place can prosper alone ; or that pros- 
perity of either is to be purchased by the decline 
of others. It is the remarkable experience of 
this whole country tliat it all thrives together : and 
that when one part suffers any check the rest is 



affected also. Long the capital of Pennsyl- 
vania, and for sometime the metropolis of the 
union, Philadelphia was hut the common head 
in pioneering many of the great improvements 
of the new world. Become again nothing more 
than the great town which Penn called it, all 
may rejoice with us that the conservative ener- 
gies of a homogenous nation, with natui al advan- 
tages, supply the place of political patronage : 
while we rejoice with all that from Machias to 
Aikapolis and from Arkapolis to Tallahassee, the 
whole of our blessed and beloved country flou- 
rishes in peace together. It is the peculiar hap- 
piness of Americans to be attached not only to 
the exuberant soil and fine meridian of their habi- 
tation by the animal instincts of local affection ; 
but to be nurtured in the more rational love of 
those free institutions wjiose allegiance embraces 
reason as well as feeling, whose sovereignty has 
no treason or alienation to fear, without whose 
light and heat the most brilliant skies and fertile 
fields would he abandoned for the bleakest, the 
barrenest and the remotest where liberty might 
find a home. The pious forefathers oi every 
province, from Plymouth to Pennsylvania, from 
Pennsylvania to Maryland, and from Maryland to 
Carolina, patient of all evils but the want of civil 
and religious freedom, the moral noblemen of 
many nations, the conscientious and indomitable 
of every tongue and sect, liere, on these pilgrim 



35 

shores, raised the ark of that covenant which owns- 
no superior but God on hi^h, and no inferior but 
the vicious among themselves. 

In the crucible of liberty, all the languages of 
Europe have been melted into one. In the tem- 
ple of toleration, all religions have been sanctified. 
The forests » f a continent have been weeded 
with stutdy hands, till its wilds have become the 
ways of pleasantness, and the paths of peace. 
With stout hearts and apt genius, the ocean has 
been tanied till it is part of the domain. 

Plenty empties her full liorn into the lap of tran- 
quillity. Commerce fetches riclies from every 
latitude. Tlie earth and mountains are quick 
with inexhaustible productions. Domestic in- 
dustry contiibutes ils infinite creations. Poetry, 
history, architecture, sculpture, painting, and mu- 
sic, daily add their memorials. Yet these are as 
nothing. Vixea nosti'a voco — enjoyments scarcelv 
acknowledged — all local advantages would be 
disregarded, if they were not recommended by 
the religious, social, and political principles we 
enjoy with them. 

Let us cultivate, and vindicate, and perpetuate 
this country, not only by the power and sympa- 
thies of heroic exploits, but by the nobler attrac- 
tions of all the arts of peace. Ours is the 
country of principles, not place : where the do- 
mestic virtues reign, in union with the riizhts of 
man ; where intense patriotism is the natural 



36 

offspring of those virtues and rights ; where love 
of conntry is a triple tie, to birth place, to state, 
and to union, spun of the niagic woof that binds 
calculation to instinct. Aloof, erect, unmeddling, 
undaunted, it neither envies nor fears, while justly 
estima!ing,the splendid and imposing ascendancy of 
the continent it sprung from. It sends on every gale 
to Europe the voice, not of defiance or hostility, but 
of an independent hemisphere of freemen. It 
sends to Asia the riches of commerce, and the gos- 
pel with healing on its wings. It sends to Africa the 
banner spangled with stars, to awe the tyrant and 
protect the slave. It sends to all benighted quar- 
ters of the globe, the ndld but divine radiance of 
an irresistible example. It invites the oppressed 
of all nations and degrees, from dethroned mo- 
narchs and banished princes, to fugitive peasants 
and destitute labourers, to come and rest within 
these borders. 

May the sciences and refinements which em- 
bellish and enlighten, the charities that endear, 
and the loyalty that enobles, for ever flourish here 
on the broad foundations of peace, liberty, and in- 
telligence. And among increasing millions of 
educated, moral, and contented people, may the 
disciples of Penn, Franklin, and Washington, meet 
together in frequent and grateful concourse, to 
render thanksgivings to the Almighty for the bles- 
sings we enjoy by his dispensation. 



In S '12 



